Pt. Loma, Calif. - - - The crew onboard USS Coronado will provide support for Commander Third Fleet during two major exercises off the coast of southern California November 12-22. Third Fleet will provide advanced realistic pre-deployment training for over 14,000 Sailors, Marines and Airmen attached to the USS STENNIS carrier battle group, BONHOMME RICHARD amphibious ready group, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and other deployable units during Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) and Fleet Exercise (FLEETEX). These exercises will ready the unit’s professional Sailors and Marines for their upcoming deployment scheduled for January 7, 2000.

The mission of the crew and staff aboard CORONADO is "to ensure our carrier battle groups and amphibious ready groups receive the world’s best training in order to deploy to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf," said Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, Commander, Third Fleet and officer in command of the exercise.

USS Coronado provides an operational platform for Commander, Third Fleet to oversee and evaluate exercises in the Pacific.

Without a command and control ship like CORONADO, Third Fleet staff would have to embark one of the participating ships seriously impairing ability to effectively evaluate fleet exercises.

During JTFEX and FLEETEX, naval operations will include Maritime Interception Operations, Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations, various air strike and support missions, operational testing of various weapons systems, Theater Ballistic Missile Defense, logistics support, search and rescue and command and control. U.S. Air Force aircraft and maritime aviation units from Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom will join U.S. Navy and Marine Corps forces in the exercise.

Over the past year USS CORONADO has been at the very center of several highly visible exercises in the Pacific including Fleet Battle Experiment Echo in Monterey and San Francisco, Calif, Operation Urban Warrior, Kernal Blitz Prime, Littoral Lighting and the USS CONSTELLATION battle group’s JTFEX in June.

Major U.S. Navy staffs and units participating in JTFEX and FLEETEX include:

Commander, Third Fleet
First Marine Expeditionary Force
Cruiser Destroyer Group Three
Cruiser Destroyer Group Five
Carrier Air Wing Nine
Carrier Group Seven
Amphibious Squadron Three
Destroyer Squadron Twenty One
Fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable)

Foreign units taking part in the exercise:
- Canadian maritime patrol aircraft
- British Royal Navy maritime patrol aircraft
- Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol aircraft

-SURFPAC-